Welcome to the Coastal Rainforest Research, Wildlife Conservation & Community Projects blog, where you can keep up to date with all the projects and information from GVI in Costa Rica

Global Vision International (GVI) is a non-political, non-religious organisation, which through its alliance with over 150 project partners in over 30 countries, provides opportunities for volunteers to fill a critical void in the fields of environmental research, conservation, education and community development.

Facts and Figures Quepos Community Project

Ongoing education support to over 330 primary school students within 2 local schools (2011-2012)

227,400 hours of Primary School students hours taught (2011-2012)

Over 1700 hours of English classes taught to adults and secondary school students (2011-2012)

Volunteer led English lessons with the 5 best students in each grade within the structure of El Cocal Primary School and Maria Luisa Primary School in Boca Vieja.

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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Ok, so we’re not selling these pictures to the tabloids, but we easily could because this phase was absolutely outstanding for our Jaguar camera-trapping project. We never really know how successful a given camera trap will be because the Jaguar(s) have to use that specific path and also stroll by slowly enough for the camera to catch a clear shot, and both are things we have only limited control over. Nonetheless, we had a huge amount of luck this last phase of 2011!

Our cameras spent a total of 106 nights out on the trails, active and waiting for animals. Throughout these nights, the cameras took a huge amount of pictures, yielding 86 pictures of 6 different Jaguars. Not only is this a very high number, it also was enough material to discover several key things. Perhaps most importantly, 2 new Jaguars were identified, bringing the total number of different individuals that GVI is aware of to 9. This is quite a large increase for 1 phase and is extremely useful information. Additionally, we had 11 recaptures, meaning that we’re now able to know a lot more about how far they move from day to day and even within a single night, and also which ones come back to this area the most. One individual, referred to as Luca by GVI, was captured a total of 6 times, giving us very insightful data into his behavior and activities.

We decided to try the video-capture feature of our cameras this phase, something that we had tried before but experienced frustrating and disappointing results over and over. However, we had amazing luck, and captured 11 videos with incredible clarity (see several posts ago for an awesome clip!) One thing that helped this work was the use of “scent stations,” something Benji, our Jaguar project leader, learned from Panthera. The cologne Calvin Klein: Obsession was sprayed onto a rag and stuck to a stick to attract Jaguars. It sounds ridiculous but it actually works! We captured several good videos of Jaguars not only stopping to smell it but pawing at it, rubbing their face and neck in it, and overall clearly being attracted to it!

Aside from the spectacular Jaguar footage, we also captured various pictures of other animals that happened to wander past such as Deer, Great Curassow (a big bird), an Agouti with babies, and even an Ocelot! Needless to say, this was a fantastic phase for our Jaguar camera-trapping project.

quotes from the field...

"The work carried out by GVI Costa Rica makes a vital contribution to conservation and scientific research and personally speaking, I am proud to be able to say that I played a part in this project."
Michelle Miller, 10 Week Volunteer

"Having a truly incredible time here at Caño Palma. Every day here is amazing and brings exciting new things to see and do."

"The location is brilliant, the people are great and the wildlife is fantastic. So far I’ve seen green turtles, two-toed and three-toed sloths, coral snakes, a vine snake, green iguanas, basilisk lizards, a Neotropical river otter, caiman, crocodiles, strawberry poison-dart frogs, howler monkeys, spider monkeys and white-faced capuchin monkeys to name just a few!"

"I also see loads of beautiful birds every day, including the two stunning species of toucan found here."

"I’m enjoying everything we do here but some of my favourite things so far have been the grueling 15 mile Jag Walk, climbing the rainforest-clad Cerro (hill), and of course the ever exciting turtle night walks."

"Getting to count a turtle’s eggs whilst she lays them is a real privilege, which I’ve been fortunate to experience twice so far. Measuring a turtle, helping tag and doing the body check are also great to do, even if you do get covered in sand and occasionally whacked by a flipper!"

"Walking through the rainforest and traveling along the canals are other things I love doing here, as the scenery is wonderful and you always see some really interesting things."

I can’t really think of anything bad to say about this place, even the frequent rainstorms, the humidity, the early mornings and being woken by screaming howler monkeys just adds to the experience, and it’s certainly worth being filthy and covered in various insect bites to be here.

I can’t wait to see what other amazing experiences 5 more weeks in Costa Rica will bring." Alex Page from the UK, Expedition Member from July-September 2008

“I was impressed with the level of professionalism of the GVI staff, who were helpful, enthusiastic and clearly passionate about the work they do here at Jalova. I have had a wonderful time and feel inspired to use the knowledge I have learnt in the classroom. Thank you very much." Mrs Ali Omell, Turtle Project Volunteer